The capture of wind power and the translation of that power into energy have been a long-time human endeavor. From ancient windmills to the giant wind farms of today, the efficient capture and harnessing of this renewable energy is of paramount importance to modern economies. With the growing need for cleaner energies, the importance of advances in cleaner alternative energy production is manifest.
Wind turbines harness the kinetic energy of the wind and convert it into mechanical or electric power. Traditional wind turbines have a horizontal spinning axis that allowed blades of the wind turbine to rotate around the axis. As wind engages the blades, the blades move around the horizontal spinning axis of the wind turbine. The relative rotation of the blades to the horizontal axis may then be converted into energy.
Recently, vertical axis wind turbines have been used to harness the kinetic energy of the wind. Vertical axis wind turbines operate in the same manner as horizontal axis wind turbines; however, the axis is a vertical plane and the blades spin around the vertical axis. As is set forth in physics, particularly Betz' Law, during the operation of the horizontal axis and vertical axis wind turbines, energy is lost during the process as the mechanical pieces of the windmill lose energy to frictional forces. Further, the friction between the moving parts in existing systems creates maintenance problems, which require frequent and costly repairs, primarily due to the need for system downtime for such work.
More recently, magnetic levitation and other advances have been employed to reduce friction and otherwise increase the efficiencies of operation. Yet, the use of magnets for levitation, well known in the train industry, is fraught with problems. A chief problem in the usage of magnetic levitation is the control of the fluctuating magnetic fields, i.e., stability. This problem is further manifest in vertical axis wind turbine systems that attempt to levitate components to reduce friction, employing a single magnet around a center axis pole. These prior art systems, however, have not been able to stabilize the magnetic fluxes and also fail to eliminate friction, leaving the entire apparatus at risk.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved magnet configuration that increases stability, eliminates friction, and minimizes system service and downtime.